The Life of Hermione Granger
by myablack1
Summary: “Hermione Granger sat with tear-stained cheeks in the small, nearly empty, muggle cafe, just two blocks from her and Ron's small one-bedroom apartment.” This story is on a bit of a hiatus, sorry for the inconvenience
1. Ch 1

Hermione Granger sat with tear-stained cheeks in the small, nearly empty, muggle cafe, just two blocks from her and Ron's small one-bedroom apartment. Her and Ron were fighting again, something Hermione had pretty much gotten used to, but this fight had been much worse than any other fight the couple had ever had.

_Hermione looked down at the muggle pregnancy test to find two thin black lines and immediately felt a wave of panic rush over her. No, she couldn't be pregnant! It wasn't possible! Well of course it was, but she didn't want it to be, she was only twenty-two after all._

_She stood with shaky legs and walked out to the kitchen, where Ron sat eating a plate full of food quickly. Sitting down next to him, letting out a shaky breath before opening her mouth to speak._

_"I'm pregnant," Hermione said bluntly, looking down at her feet so she didn't have to look at Ron, who had begun staring at her as though she had just exclaimed Voldemort had returned._

_"You're what!?" Ronald shouted loudly, pushing back his chair angrily and standing up._

_"I'm pregnant," she said again, this time much quieter._

_"You better bloody not be," he grumbled stiffly._

_"Oh yeah and why is that?" she asked, braving to stand up and look him in the eye._

_"Because," he stated simply, stepping closer to her. "Lavender is pregnant and I don't make enough to support two children."_

_Hermione stared blankly at him. Surely that couldn't mean what she thought it meant? No, of course it didn't. Ron wouldn't cheat on her. He loved her... didn't he?_

_"Are you cheating on me?" she all but whispered when he didn't explain what his previous statement had meant._

_"No, of course not," Ron said sarcastically._

_Hermione felt a tear fall down her cheek as she looked away from him._

_"How long?"_

_"Almost ten months," he said simply, sitting back down to finish eating his plate of food._

_"I'm sorry 'Mione, really I am," Ron sighed. "I fell out of love with you a long time ago. You just... you were never enough, too bland, vanilla."_

_Hermione, who was on the verge of sobbing now, looked at him, feeling an overwhelmingly strong pain in her heart, which could be simply explained as heartbreak__._

_"**I hate you, Ronald Weasley! I hate you!**"_

_Ron stood quickly, so quickly Hermione barely noticed. What she did notice though, was sting she felt on her cheek as Ron's palm collided with it. Ronald Weasley had just hit Hermione Granger._

_His drinking had gotten far out of hand and he had often shouted directly in his girlfriend's face, but he had **never** hit her, not once, not until now._

_She stepped back, almost tripping over her own feet, then turned and walked to the apartment's single bedroom, her shaking legs carrying her as quickly as they could. Hurriedly, Hermione shrunk everything that belonged to her and threw it all into the same drawstring bag she had used while hunting for horcruxes._

_Swinging the bag over her shoulder, she stormed out of the apartment, not even glancing at Ron on her way out._

Hermione dried her tears with a heaving sigh and picked up her chocolate caramel latte, taking a long, almost soothing, sip. Lots of people, Americans mostly, thought that Britains only drank tea, but that wasn't true, not in the least, especially for Hermione Granger.

Sitting in the corner booth, she looked up as the bell on the door chimed, her eyes meeting the bright, platinum blonde hair of a tall, lean man. Feeling her heart race as she recognized the man, she looked down before he could notice her.

Eventually, she looked up, finding the man gazing around the shop. Their eyes locked for a fraction of a second, causing Hermione to panic. She quickly looked away, pulling a book from her bag and opening it to a random page: 217. She tried burying her face into the old, dusty book, praying to herself that he wouldn't come over to her.

* * *

Draco Malfoy stumbled tiredly into a small muggle coffee shop, dark purple, almost black, bags under his eyes. When was the last time he had slept? He wasn't sure. Three days? Or was it four now?

Walking up to the counter, Draco ordered a large black coffee. Slapping a crisp fifty pound note onto the counter, he mumbled, "Keep the change." The barista coughed, blushing faintly, then picked up on the note.

Draco grabbed the coffee, walking away from the counter. His eyes trailed around the small shop. An elderly man sat the counter on a bar stool with a newspaper and a small coffee. Other than the man and himself, only one other person was in the shop, a woman. She was sitting alone, head down.

He realized he had perhaps been watching her for too long when she looked up and their eyes locked. Draco looked away. Something was familiar about her chocolate brown eyes. Could it be her...? He forced away the thought. He hadn't seen Hermione Granger in years. Not since... since the war.

Taking the deepest breath he could, Draco walked over to the booth the brown-eyed woman was sitting at and sat down across from her.

"Granger..."

Hermione dropped the book onto the table, her head shooting up to look at him. No one had called her Granger since Fred passed.

"M-Malfoy..." she stammered, throat suddenly tight.

He stood all too quickly, walking out of the shop and into the brisk autumn air, shaky hand raking through his hair. Taking large drinks of his coffee, he allowed his feet to carry him farther and farther away from the shop and to his new apartment in the nicer part of town.

Tossing his empty cup into the trash bin in front of the building, Draco opened the lobby doors, giving a slight nod to the doorman who was talking to the daughter of the woman who lived down the hall from him. The man, who Draco had come to know as Alex, held a hand up to stop him from going upstairs. Alex jogged over to Draco.

"Two young men, your age maybe, were here earlier looking for you. One dark-skinned, the other paler then yourself. Neither would give me a name."

"Thanks, Alex," Draco mumbled to him, sighing. He pulled some money from the pocket of his coat and handed it to him.

Draco made his way slowly and tiredly up the stairs. His apartment was on the top floor, meaning he had seven stories of stairs to climb, not that was going to be a problem. He felt numb all over.

_It's just the cold, the wind. You walked pretty far, Draco. Get upstairs, warm up. You'll be fine._

**Liar. You know why you can't feel anything. Astoria, then the booze, and now _her_.**

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling nausea washing over him, pressure building at the front of his head. Ever since the incident with Astoria, there were these two voices in his head. One soft, gentle, and reassuring. The other cruel and loud, making him feel worthless. Really, it reminded him of his parents when he was growing up. His mom, trying to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, whilst his dad belittled him for everything imaginable.

Regaining his composure, Draco brushed dirt off that wasn't there, took a deep breath, and walked up the remaining flights of stairs. He fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out a key ring, unlocking his door and going inside. He slipped off his coat, draping it over the back of the couch.

Walking to the kitchen, he set his keys on the counter. There were half a dozen keys on the ring. Four car keys, his key to this place, and one to the place Blaise and Theo shared. They'd been living together since Pansy passed away. How long had it been now? Almost a year, right?

He had just pulled a beer from the fridge when it dawned on him. **Today. She died 365 days ago. That's why they were here you arse. They wanted to check on you, not try to force you to come back.** He slammed the bottle to the ground angrily, causing it to shatter all over the floor. Thankfully, he hadn't taken off his shoes yet.

After several deep breaths, he pulled out his wand, cleaning up the glass and spilled alcohol. Grabbing another beer and opening it, Draco took a large swig, downing half the bottle in a single gulp. He finished off the beer quickly, but instead of stopping or grabbing just another single bottle, he grabbed an entire unopened 12-pack and took it with him to the larger of the apartment's two bedrooms.

* * *

Hermione watched Draco walk away, tears already forming in her eyes, though she didn't know why she was crying over him leaving. She wiped away the forming tears away, finishing her coffee then left the shop.

The sidewalk was full of people. It was almost ten now and everyone was already shopping. No precise destination, Hermione just started walking. Eventually, she reached the outside of a very nice apartment building, spotting a semi-familiar face amongst the many other people. She wasn't quite sure the name of the man she partially recognized, but Hermione knew that she knew him from somewhere.

The man seemed to spot her and he froze, eyes widening slightly. Hermione blinked and he seemed to disappear. She was startled when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder.

"Hermione Granger?"

"Who's asking?" Hermione had turned around to look at the man, eyeing him carefully.

"Theodore Nott," he said, eyes scanning her face. When she didn't respond, he continued. "We went to school together, the same year."

The witch sighed, giving him a half-smile. "Of course, sorry. It's been a long day, extremely long."

The former Slytherin smiled faintly back at her. "Tell me about it." He gave a weak laugh. "Let me take you to brunch, we can talk about our shitty days, yeah?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I couldn't ask that of you. Besides, I just got out of a relationship this morning, I shouldn't be going out a date."

Theodore burst into laughter, causing Hermione confusion. "Sorry, I shouldn't be laughing. I'm sorry about your breakup, but by no means was I asking you out on a date." He held up his hand, showing a sterling silver ring with a stripe for each color of the rainbow wrapping all the way around the band.

Before Hermione could respond, a man appeared behind Theodore. This one she recognized fully, Blaise Zabini.

"That doorman still won't let us up to see him," Blaise said, not even noticing Hermione.

"Well fuck him then. We tried playing nice. Now we do this our way." He told Blaise, fidgeting anxiously with his ring.

Hermione chewed on the inside of her cheek, waiting for Nott to remember she was there or for Zabini to notice her. After a few minutes of them sitting silently, she cleared her throat.

Blaise's eyes snapped in her direction. "Hermione Granger..." he trailed off, looking her up and down. "Merlin... you look... different."

Theodore nudged him. "You can fawn over her another time, we need to take care of Draco first."

"Malfoy?" Hermione asked, ignoring how Blaise was still staring at her.

Nott nodded. "What other Draco do you know? Why?"

"It's nothing, I just saw him earlier in a coffee shop, he sat down next to me for a split second and then left. He looked exhausted."

Theodore sighed quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Kicking Blaise's shin to get his attention, causing him to curse loudly, he pointed to a row of windows at the top of the building. "He's on the top floor, so one of those should be a window to his apartment. We need to figure out how to get up there."

Blaise, who was glaring at his friend, nodded. "Okay, but how do you propose we do that? It's broad daylight and we're in the middle of muggle London, so no brooms or levitating. We can't apparate because we've never been inside and obviously we can't just walk in."

"Honestly, you two are stupid," Hermione said, shaking her head. "There's a way to just walk in, just not as yourselves."

The wizards gave her bewildered looks, obviously not catching on.She sighed. Why was she even helping them? It wasn't like she cared. "Follow me," Hermione told them, starting to walk away from the apartment building towards a pizza place.

A still confused Blaise and Theodore followed her, not bothering to ask questions. They walked in silence for roughly ten minutes before reaching the pizza place. Hermione ordered a large pepperoni. Neither of the wizards had ever had pizza or even saw it before now, but they were still going along with Hermione's plan.

After a bit more silence, their pizza was done. They started walking back to the apartment building.

"Okay, enough of this damn silence. What exactly is this master plan of yours?" Blaise asked, irritated.

"I'm going to pretend to be delivering this pizza to Malfoy so the doorman will let me up to his apartment. Once I see what the hallway outside his door looks like, I can come back out and apparate you two in," Hermione said in a tone that made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Sounds good to me," Theodore said, "but why are you doing this? You barely remembered who I was, I don't think you've talked to Blaise more than a handful of times in your life, and Draco has kind of always been an arse to you."

"I had a horrible day and you said you did too. I just want to help you feel better in hopes that it'll make me feel better, then I'll be on my way. Go stand in the alley over there next to the building; I'll be back in a few minutes."

Hermione walked inside the building, not waiting for a response. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling brightly at Alex.

"Hello. I have a pizza for Mr. Draco Malfoy. I know his room is on the top floor, but I can't remember the door number. Do you think you could tell me and let me up?"

The doorman nodded. "Mr. Malfoy is room number three. I'll let you up," he said pulling a ring of keys from his uniform pocket. He unlocked the doors that opened up to an elevator and a set of stairs.

Hermione gave a quick thank you and walked up to the elevator, pressing the up button. The doors open shortly after and she stepped inside, pressing the button for the 7th floor. A few seconds later, the doors opened again. She walked down the hall till she reached the door labeled with a neat #3. After looking around to ensure there was no one else in the hall, she disappeared with a pop.

When she reappeared, Hermione was standing right in front of the two nervous-looking snakes she had left only a couple of minutes ago, pizza box still in hand.

"I assume you got in?" Blaise asked, shifting his weight.

"Easily. Are you two ready?" Hermione questioned, looking at them carefully.

When they both nodded, she placed a hand on each of their shoulders, disappearing once again. The trio landed right outside Malfoy's door. Blaise knocked loudly on the door, Theodore standing next to him. Hermione stood behind them, not sure why she was sticking around.

After more than five minutes of loud knocking, shuffling could be heard from inside the apartment. Blaise's hand froze mid-knock and there was a quiet clicking noise. The door swung open to reveal an obviously hammered Draco Malfoy.

"What the hell do y-," he stopped, realizing who was standing there. "How in the name of Merlin did you even get up here? And why is she with you?"

The wizards ignored their friend's questions, pushing past him and into the apartment, leaving just Draco and Hermione standing there. She held to pizza box out to him and he took it, staring at it.

"I was simply helping them get up here to you. They were worried about you. I'm leaving now," Hermione said, starting to walk away, heading for the elevator.

Draco closed his eyes, bright lights flashing in his head. Fourteen beers may have been a few too many and it may have been the reason for what he did next.

"Granger, don't leave. Come inside, at least let me pay you back for whatever this is," he called to her.

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks, turning around and hesitantly walking back to the apartment, going inside.


	2. Ch 2

**A/N: _Woah, just woah. I hadn't expected this to get as much attention as it did so quickly. Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. I know this chapter is shorter, but I_****_'m not sure how much time I'll have to write this week coming up and I wanted to get something out to you _****_guys._**

Hermione looked around inside the large apartment. Even though she could only see the living area and kitchen she guessed it was probably worth at least three or four times the amount she'd been paying for her and Ron's place. She spotted Blaise and Theodore in the kitchen, dumping beer bottles down the sink. Walking over, she picked up a bottle and started helping them.

It didn't take long for Draco to notice what they were doing. "Hey! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing? That stuff is expensive!" He shouted, making his own headache worse. Nearly doubling over in pain as he stumbled into the kitchen, he repeated himself. "Those beers were expensive!"

Blaise sighed. "I'm well aware of that and I'll pay you back every sickle it cost. Now, go take a pepper up potion. You're drunk off your ass, mate," he said, clapping him on the back. "You look like shit."

"Well thanks," Draco snarled at him, leaving from to kitchen to go find a pepper up potion like Blaise told him to, knowing he was in no place to argue.

Hermione was dumping the last bottle of booze down the drain when Theodore nudged her. "Why are you still here, Granger?"

The witch shrugged. "He asked me to come in, said he was going to pay me back for the pizza."

Theodore nodded but looked unconvinced. "Okay. Just give Blaise and I a minute to talk to Draco about something and then we'll take you to brunch." He looked at his watch. "I guess it's more like lunch now."

Hermione shifted her weight. "You don't have to do that..." she trailed off. "We barely know each other and I haven't spoken to you, or Zabini, in years."

He shrugged. "So what? You helped us out. If you hadn't got us up here Draco might've ended up with alcohol poisoning. We owe you. Besides, it only has to be a one-time thing. After you can just go back to forgetting we exist, okay?"

"Okay," she said, nodding slowly. Hermione couldn't help but feel that there was something out of place. She trusted him for a reason unbeknownst to herself.

"Good," Theodore said, smiling.

Hermione stood in the kitchen while Zabini and Nott went to the back end of the apartment to talk to Malfoy about something. They seemed to have drastically changed, but Hermione knew that should have been expected. The war changed everyone, some for the better, some for the worse. She had been exposed to both the good and bad changes.

After some shouting in what sounded like French to her, Blaise and Theodore reappeared, Draco in tow. Draco was slightly red in the face and looked sober but still exhausted. The small smile she gave him didn't go unnoticed.

"Draco is going to come to lunch with us," Blaise said. "Is that okay?"

"Of course." That wasn't completely true. She wasn't sure how she felt about going to lunch with Malfoy, but the others had been nothing but nice to her thus far. "Where should we eat?"

After a place for lunch was decided on, the group of four made their way from the apartment and to a small, family-owned restaurant called Cherry's. The walk there was quiet and peaceful, surprisingly enough.

Everyone at Cherry's seemed to recognize Draco. Apparently, he was a regular of sorts there.

Just how long has he been coming to and living in muggle London? Hermione wondered.

They were seated quickly at a booth in a corner, Theodore next to Hermione, Blaise and Draco across from them. After drinks were ordered, Blaise started making an attempt to spark a conversation. "So, Granger, Theo tells me you've had a shit day, let's hear about it."

"Well..." she trailed off, shifting her weight for what felt like maybe the hundredth time that day. "I'm sure you three are well aware that I've been with Ron Weasley for the past few years. I have been feeling odd, so to speak, for the past week. I decided to take a pregnancy test when I woke up this morning, finding that I am indeed pregnant." The table went more silent then it already was. "When I proceeded to tell Ron, he revealed that he has been cheating on me for ten months, but Merlin knows how long it's really been, and that this other woman happens to be pregnant. When I lashed out, he hit me, hard." Hermione's voice broke with the last word, tears streaming steadily down her face. Why had she just told them that? Why was she even here with them?

Quickly wiping her eyes, she mumbled, "S-sorry, I didn't mean to start crying."

Theodore wrapped and arm around her shoulders, which was oddly quite comforting. "Don't apologize, you did nothing wrong."

Hermione sniffled. "Thanks, Nott."

"Oh enough with all this surnames bullshit. It's Theodore, or Theo better yet," He said, giving her a smile.

Hermione wiped her eyes again, nodding.

"So, you're pregnant, Granger? One of the first from our year. I never thought that would happen," Zabini quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

Hermione gave him a weak smile. "Me neither. I never really thought about having kids, especially not with him and not this young. Things have always been different with Ron so to speak."

"Different how?" Draco asked, talking for the first time since they had ordered drinks.

"Well, I..." Hermione trailed off, giving a small shrug. She didn't really know the answer and thinking about what had happened just a few hours ago - thinking about everything that had happened so far today - was starting to make her uncomfortable.

After a few silent minutes, the witch stood. "I-" she cleared her throat. "I should go." Adjusting the strap of her bag, Hermione left the restaurant, tears streaming down her face once more.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Six days, Hermione thought to herself with a heaving sigh. It had been six days since Ron had hit her and they'd broken up. Six days since she ran into three Slytherin boys she'd gone to school with. Six days since she'd found out she was pregnant.

Hermione hadn't bothered trying to find a new place just yet. Instead, she'd gotten a room in a fair priced motel and was staying there. Harry and Ginny were supposed to meet her outside the building any minute now so they could talk. None of the papers knew about her and Ron or the baby as of yet. Unless Ron told them, which was highly unlikely, they didn't know yet either.

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, appearing next to her.

"Hello, Ginny, " the older witch replied, forcing a smile. "Where's Harry?"

"Right here," the raven-haired boy said from behind Ginny.

Hermione took note of the fact that he looked thoroughly exhausted and gave him the same forced smile she'd given Ginny. "Hi, Harry."

"Is everything alright?" He asked, moving so he could look at her properly. "Why'd you want us to meet here and not at your place?"

She shifted slightly, mentally cursing her friend for being so straightforward. "It's not my apartment anymore, not really."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked just as Harry opened his mouth to do the same.

"Let's go for a walk and I'll explain," Hermione said nervously.

Roughly an hour later the triad sat together on a park bench. Hermione had her head on Harry's shoulder, her eyes puffy and her face red from crying. She had told Harry and Ginny everything: all the times Ron had come home late after work and she'd ignored it, how she realized he had become distant, about her pregnancy, about his affair, and finally how he had hit her. Really, the only thing she left out was her bizarre encounter with Draco, Blaise, and Theo.

"Why'd you wait so long to tell us?" the fiery ginger asked. Ginny was positively fuming, tapping her foot rapidly.

Hermione shrugged before mumbling, "I thought you guys were going to be mad at me."

"Mad at you? I am in no way mad at you, Hermione Granger. I'm contemplating the best way to murder my brother without being caught."

Harry gave a pained laugh. "Gin's right, 'Mione. We aren't mad at you."

Hermione lifted her head from his shoulder, smiling weakly. "I love you guys."

"We love you too, Hermione," Ginny replied, taking the other witch's hand and pulling her up from the bench. "I propose you and I do a bit of shopping to take your mind off things and Harry can head to the Burrow and see about telling the rest of my family about Ron so you don't have to."

Hermione looked at Harry who nodded. "Go, try to enjoy yourself a little. I'll tell them."

Twenty-five minutes later the witches were stopped outside a cute little boutique when Ginny asked Hermione to wait a moment while she went in and checked the price of a top in the window. Hermione nodded and ushered her friend inside. She was lost in her thoughts when I tall, dark, familiar man ran into her.

"Oh, sorry about that," he mumbled, brushing himself off a bit before looking at her. "Hermione," he breathed with wide eyes.

She looked up at him. He was really quite tall. 6'3 maybe? She hadn't noticed that the other day. "Hello, Blaise," she said quietly, providing him a small, sad smile.

Ginny exited the shop before Blaise could say anything. "Hermione? Who are you-" She froze, breath caught in her throat.

"Well hello, Red."

**A/N: _I wrote out a basic character list for myself and I'm toying around with ship ideas besides the two main ones. I'm not sure if I'm going to post it in an author's note or not so feel free to pm me if you'd like._ _Reading through this I felt like everything seemed rushed. What do you guys think?_**


	3. Ch 3

"Blaise…" Ginny said slowly, watching the dark-skinned wizard as if she wasn't sure he as really there. "I… don't… why…" She couldn't seem to form a proper sentence, tears fogging her vision.

Blaise just shook his head, giving her a small, sad smile. "I get it now, Ginny. I get why you chose what you did. It makes more sense than the other option ever could have. I'm sorry for being upset. I'm sorry for being angry."

The witch returned the small, sad smile he gave with one of her own, tears now trickling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry too," she said with a sigh, choosing not to look at him. Slowly, she seemed to become lost in thought, lost in a memory.

Hermione looked at her friend carefully before casting a glance at Blaise, who had the same glazed look of remembrance on his face. She hadn't known them to have been friends or to have even been in much contact outside of Quidditch and the Slug Club. Ginny had never once spoken about the wizard to her, and if she had she surely hadn't used his first name or his last. What happened between the pair that was causing them to act so strangely? What were they so sorry about?

* * *

_Blaise Zabini anxiously paced the Room of Requirement. Today the grey color of the walls reminded him of stone. A single, small couch was the only piece of furniture in the room. It faced the fireplace and the clock that hung above it._

**_Tick, tick, tick_**

_The exasperated wizard let out a groan, glaring at the clock as if it were its fault the witch had yet to show up. Where she was Blaise didn't know. He didn't know if she was in trouble or hurt or both. On more than one occasion in the two hours that he had been waiting for her, he had almost left to go find her, but they had decided months ago that they had to wait three full hours from their designated meeting time before they could go in search for the other. Blaise was now thinking that three hours was far too long of a waiting time. Not knowing if she was safe was driving him absolutely mad, but if she was safe and he went looking he would put both her and himself in danger._

_As if reading his thoughts and coming to lecture him, the door swung open and in walked a very troubled looking Ginny Weasley. "Sorry," the witch mumbled, raking her fingers through her hair. She slowly made her way over to Blaise and silently wrapped her arms around him._

_Blaise, who was much taller than the witch, kissed the top of her head and let out a breath of relief. "You bloody scared me," he confessed._

_They stayed like that for a while, silent and unmoving until Ginny broke away from the hug, her heart racing as she remembered what she needed to tell him. Blaise had a habit of doing that, clouding her thoughts, not that it was his fault or that he had any control over it, but he did it nonetheless._

_"Red…" Blaise trailed off, looking at her worriedly. "What is it? What happened?"_

_'They're back; Harry, Ron, and Hermione are back."_

_A pregnant silence followed her announcement until Blaise replied in a meek voice, "We could be together properly after Potter wins. We could go on dates and I could buy you things and-"_

_"I like what we have," Ginny said, quickly cutting him off._

_"You like being hidden?"_

_"That not what I-"_

_"You like only being able to see each other once or twice a week outside of class?"_

_"No-"_

_"Are you too ashamed to be with me because of my family's ties?"_

_"Blaise-"_

_"We could do it and you know it. Potter's going to win. The Dark Lord is weak, even Snape knows it. He's scared, Ginny. They're all scared. Sure, my mother very well might throw a tantrum, but she'll get over it quickly enough. Why can't we try to make something more out of this, something more out of us?"_

_"I couldn't do that to Harry," she said quietly._

_"Ginny, he left you."_

_"He left me to protect me!"_

_"So what was I? Just something to toy with while Potter was out of the picture?"_

_"You weren't. Don't say that."_

_Blaise, who seemed to have tears in his eyes, scoffed. He'd only ever cried once in front of Ginny. It had been after a punishment from the Carrows._

_"I love you, Blaise. Please don't ever think otherwise."_

_"And I love you. So what the hell does Potter have to do with us having a real relationship?" He stopped as it suddenly dawned on him. "You still love him, don't you?"_

_"I've loved Harry since before I even understood what love is. I can't abandon that; I can't abandon him. You can't ask me to leave him behind."_

_"I'd never ask you to, but you need to choose."_

_"Choose?"_

_"Between us. Potter or me?"_

_"Harry. It's always been Harry," she said without thought. He nodded solemnly._

_"That was all I needed you to say. Goodbye, Ginny." Blaise had known she would choose him, but it still hurt. It hurt far more than he wanted to admit. For a time he would resent her for choosing him, then he would grow to resent himself for making her choose and never reaching out to her after things had settled down._

* * *

Blaise cleared his throat, looking at Hermione. "How are you feeling? We were all quite worried when you walked out the other day."

It was Ginny's turn to watch Hermione carefully. When telling her what she thought had been everything that happened the day of the Ron - for the lack of a better term in her scrambled mind - escapade, there was absolutely no mention of coming into contact with Blaise, or anyone else even mildly significant for that matter. Why had she left it out? Who else did she see?

Ginny made a distinct hmph noise when Hermione made the decision to ignore the look she was giving the witch and met Blaise's eye. "I'm feeling a bit better. I just got freaked out I guess. It was all too much, you know? Overwhelming..."

He gave a nod. "Understandable," he said.

Blaise was absentmindedly also making the choice to not look at Ginny. For an entirely different reason then Hermione, he just couldn't do it, no matter how much he wanted to. Knowing she wasn't his anymore and having her within just a step of his long legs from being flush against him was killing him. He wanted to look at her, of course. She was beautiful, so beautiful, but his subconscious wouldn't allow it. More than anything he just wanted to look at hear her say it one more time. I love you.

**_Fuck_**.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he continued, "We were worried about you, Draco even. He seems to think he's some kind of shit person, and that every single problem anyone has can be traced back to him in some way, so he thought it was entirely his fault Egotistical of him, really. Took

Hermione forced a smile for him and shook her head. Blaise Zabini seemed to be perfectly okay with ignoring this was one of the first actual conversations she had ever had with him. Blaise Zabini seemed to perfectly okay with acting like they had been friends for years instead of a having a small connection over a six-day ago odd confrontation. She was thankful for it.

* * *

To put it in the least crude was possible in her current mindset: Ginny Weasley was beyond royally pissed. She was pissed because she didn't know what the hell they were talking about. She was pissed because she wouldn't look at her. First and foremost though, Ginny was pissed because he wouldn't even glance at her.

"**Fuck.**"

Blaise's head snapped in her direction and he properly looked at her, panic written all over his face. "Are you okay?"

_He still cares._

Bloody hell, she missed him.

She missed him so much it hurt.

_It hurt to breathe,_

_to move,_

_to think._

It took her almost three steps where it would have taken him one stride, but she was there, standing in front of him. He'd gotten taller, a lot taller. Of course, he had been tall before but this was different. She felt small as she wrapped her arms around him. She ignored the faint click of a camera. There was a reporter somewhere and they must have spotted them, despite the fact that they were in muggle London, not wizarding. She didn't care what story they printed in their foolish papers and magazines.

"I love you and I told you not to think otherwise," she mumbled into his chest.

Blaise hugged her petite form to his. "I love you too, Ginny."

She took in a breath and found that it didn't hurt.

He kissed the top of her head as he had time and time again before.

_If this is a dream, I don't think I ever want to wake up._

* * *

Hermione stared at her friends, unblinking. Not permitting her mind to dwell on the idea that she had just referred to Blaise as a friend, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Theirs was the type of love she wanted, that she craved. Ultimately, she had recently decided she wasn't sure that she had loved Ron, or that she had even been very happy with him at all.

Suddenly, Hermione's breath hitched as she felt the need to do something. It wasn't rash, but it wasn't very logically either. These things were 99.9% correct, after all, but 1/1000 seemed a lot more probably to her now then it had before. She walked over to Ginny, who was standing exactly where she had been moments before, arms wrapped tightly around Blaise, and whispered to her that she was sorry, so sorry. Ginny had sniffled and given a small nod as if to say she was sorry too. What they were sorry for went unsaid, but the message still stood.

As she was walking away she glanced back to see Blaise was watching her with some type of sadness, remorse perhaps. He gave a faint smile and a nod of his head. It was like he knew what she was going to do. Hermione wondered if in some way he somehow did know. The short walk to the drugstore convinced her that he did. That, and that Blaise was on a probable road to becoming the candidate of a friendship she wouldn't let him back out of.

Three, Hermione decided. The original and two more made three. Three could mean no ties. Three yeses, two yeses and a no, or two nos and a yes. She rubbed her eyes as she paid the cashier, a girl younger than herself that paid her no judgment.

Another short walk and Hermione had reached the motel. With a wrinkle of her nose, she went inside. The decision to rent a room here instead of getting an actual apartment had not been a smart one. She took the lift up to her floor. Once inside her room, she practically raced into the bathroom, highly out of character.

Soon she was counting down, her eyes closed.

_300… 254… 206… 174… 122… 89… 64… 43… 25… 17… 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1_

Her eyes shot open instantly, staring at the tiny screen of the pregnancy test.

**_A/N_****_: _Sorry there was such a long wait for this update. There were a lot of personal things I needed to take care of. I hope everyone had a great holiday. I've got a plot floating around in my head for another story that I might take the time to write. I'm not sure yet**


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